Tag Archives: cloud

Between February 8 and 21, 2011 VMware unleashed a flood of announcements (7 by my count) related to strategic alliances, channel partners as well as offerings that enable cloud computing through partners. A variety of partner types were highlighted: service providers SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp., CSC and BlueLock, Colt and Verizon announcing availability of VMware vCloud Datacenter Services; Wyse Technology introducing desktop virtualization through VMware View on Wyse clients; and a joint announcement by HP and VMware to co-develop and market security solutions for vSphere-based environments. At the recent VMware Partner Exchange, Ragu Raghuram, VMware’s senior vice president and general manager of virtualization and cloud platforms called out the cloud opportunity as “many times larger” than the virtualization one. Channel partners were urged to develop new cloud-related competencies (no doubt by taking advantage of VMware’s recently introduced specializations, certifications and tools) to monetize the cloud opportunity.

Why this flood of partner-related announcements by VMware? Is VMware playing catch up with archrival Microsoft? Or is VMware making a full scale ‘assault’ on a broad range of ecosystem partners to carry its message to all corners of cloud and virtualization consumers (i.e. service providers, enterprise and SMB)? In its early days, VMware single-mindedly focused on major channel partners HP, IBM and Dell to market its offerings (and less its brand) – much like Intel prior to its wildly successful “Intel Inside” campaign.

To answer the question of “Is VMware playing catch up with archrival Microsoft? “, I researched Microsoft’s announcements related to partners and cloud computing over the last 13 months. Microsoft and HP made a ‘big bang’ announcement (January, 2010) of a 3-year agreement investing $250M to build solutions for a next generation “infrastructure-to-application” model, advanced cloud computing, and IT management and automation. By far this eclipsed any of VMware’s announcements with strategic partners, with the exception of VMware/EMC’s announcement with Cisco in the joint venture of Arcadia (now VCE) in November, 2009. Through July, 2010, Microsoft had made less than a half dozen press releases of partner-related cloud announcements involving government cloud offerings, hosting service providers, CapGemini (helping customers transition to cloud and hosting Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite)and LG Uplus (offering Microsoft cloud services to subscribers). To be fair, Microsoft being a “general department store” type of vendor that spans multiple markets and technology domains, is constrained in press releases focused on any one market such as cloud.

VMware had a steady stream of key partner-related announcements throughout 2010. Last January, VMware, Cisco and NetApp announced a joint offering of a “secure, multi-tenant design architecture” to help enterprises transition to the cloud. This was a bold move for the triad considering that VMware, EMC and Cisco had just made a significant investment in Arcadia (now VCE). (NetApp further upped the ante as a strategic ally (and EMC counterweight) to VMware (and Cisco) by introducing FlexPod for VMware, a pre-integrated solution comprising of NetApp, Cisco and VMware technologies that competes head-on with VCE’s Vblock last November. Vblocks are comprised of pre-integrated Cisco networking, EMC storage and vSphere.)

Subsequent key partner announcements included a joint announcement with salesforce.com on VMforce, an enterprise deployment environment for Java applications running on Force.com last April. In May and October VMware and Google announced multiple technology collaborations that enable Java developers to build rich web applications using Google and VMware tools, and deploy Spring Java applications on Google App Engine. By tightly coupling its technologies and tools with those of salesforce.com and Google to equip developers in building, deploying and managing cloud applications and services, VMware is strengthening its position as the dominant cloud platform provider. These strategic collaborations should help VMware overcome a perceived limitation – the lack of developer support – by winning over developers who are so crucial to platform dominance. Microsoft’s ability to win the heart and soul of a vast multitude of developers has been a key driver in its success as an industry platform player. VMware, no doubt is fast catching on.

In the fall VMware made two announcements with major service providers. On September 1, VMware announced that SingTel and its Australian subsidiary, Opus were the first Asia Pacific providers to join VMware’s vCloud DataService program to offer enterprise-class cloud computing services and interoperable public clouds. On September 27, Orange Business Services, Cisco, EMC and VMware formed an alliance to deliver Flexible 4 Business managed services, initially aimed at IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) and SaaS (software-as-a-service). Along with recent participation by managed service providers and telcos in the vCloud DataService program and CapGemini’s introduction of VMware-based Virtualization Business Services (January, 2011), VMware demonstrates its ability to gain traction with service providers who are closest to the customer, and well-positioned to influence cloud adoption. When strategic allies move beyond technology and marketing collaboration, and focus on delivery, this is where the rubber meets the road.

These developments point to VMware’s progress in significantly expanding beyond traditional hardware partners such as Hewlett Packard and Cisco[1], and nurturing an ecosystem of key technology providers, developers, service providers as well as channel partners. Again, building a broad base of ecosystem partners and strategic alliances is a well-known chapter in Microsoft’s operating manual. VMware has well assimilated this message through its increasingly broad embrace of partners across the board.

Where VMware lacks are technologies and tools that can help partners leverage high growth markets (e.g. mobility, cloud-based analytics) and cloud solutions for vertical markets (e.g. health care, government). This is where teaming up with established as well as emerging technology vendors can go a long way in helping VMware to secure platform dominance. By selecting the right strategic allies (e.g. Google, Cisco), influencing key developers, building a broad network of service providers and channel partners worldwide, combined with a clear sense of the customer cloud adoption journey, cutting-edge technology roadmap and flawless execution, VMware can stay well ahead of the game.

[1] VMware also made significant announcements with Hewlett Packard (e.g. end to end infrastructure solutions for cloud computing) and Cisco (e.g. virtual desktop computing) in 2010.

Novell’s announcement of a beta program for Novell Vibe Cloud and Vibe OnPrem (November 9) marked its foray into enterprise social networking. Along with this beta, Novell introduced an incentive program for resellers labeled as “discounts” and “rebates”. For both cloud-based and on-premise versions, partners receive a small discount (single digit) at the time of customer purchase, and a larger rebate (double digit) for Year 1 billings. For Year 2 and 3, partners would also enjoy the same rebate percentage as Year 1. It is not clear whether partners will automatically be given the rebate, or will have to earn it in Years 2 and 3 through additional value add to customers. Being a new kid on the social networking block, coupled with its pending acquisition by Attachmate Corporation, only time will tell how well this program tracts with partners.

By contrast Jive Software, the granddaddy of enterprise social networking, negotiates individual deals with each partner for reselling its on-premise and SaaS versions of software. Partners receive a discount, allowing them to make whatever margin is feasible. As for Year 2 and 3, partners need to stay engaged to earn additional revenue. No free lunch here.

Major vendors such as IBM and Microsoft have programmatic guidelines for reselling SaaS offerings such as Lotus Live and Microsoft Business Productivity Office Suite (BPOS). Up and coming players including Socialtext and Yammer have minimal to zero channel play in their go-to-market mix. Others such as Workday have a more OEM-like relationship with partners such as OneSource VHR, an HR business process outsourcer. See Tis’ the Season for Revenue-Sharing in this blog for more on OEM arrangements.

One of the more innovative approaches was NetSuite’s SP 100 program targeted at ramping up reseller recruitment. In March NetSuite embarked on a time-limited offer (through April) for partners to receive 100% margin of Year 1 subscription revenue, plus a 10% margin of annual renewals. (Its standard program offers channel partners a 50% margin of Year 1 subscriptions, and 30% of subsequent renewals). NetSuite acknowledged that SP 100 was a proactive measure to significantly grow channel sales beyond 20% of its revenue. In a recent interview with CRN in November, NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson indicated that this program has resulted in some “well-qualified partners” including VARs, systems integrators and accounting consultants. CRN also reported that NetSuite is now “turning more service opportunities to solution providers”. It is unknown as to whether NetSuite achieved its goal of increasing net new resellers or channel sales. The outcome however suggests that SP 100 may have helped NetSuite to better determine who and how it needs to partner.